KIRKUS REVIEW

An opaque discussion of the Quran and its application to modern problems.

In this history and analysis of Islam and the Quran, Mustapha has a clear mission: convince his readers that understanding the holy text and following the Prophet Muhammad is the way to achieve personal and global happiness. He writes that the Quran “is essentially a guidance delivering man from darkness into light; it has no substitute.” The book offers interpretations of various verses in the Quran and their relationship to life today. Mustapha’s argument leads to the suggestion that a renewed following of Muhammad—led by “the children of Israel” and the establishment of a new caliphate— is the solution to global tensions such as the Occupy movement and the European debt crisis. Arriving at that controversial conclusion, however, is a struggle. The book is packed with references to events and figures from Islamic history; readers without the relevant background knowledge will find themselves overwhelmed by names and terminology. Quotations from the Quran serve as the author’s primary source of proof for his claims, so readers of a dissimilar faith are unlikely to find his arguments compelling. As a whole, the book seems more like a starting place for further research than a complete treatise. One footnote reads: “This is a very profound description of the Sunna that needs careful analysis,” yet that analysis isn’t explicit in the text. Instead, the author often relies on strings of rhetorical questions, which, although a useful study guide for a devoted student, are of little use to the lay reader. Ultimately, it’s unclear who the intended audience is: Readers familiar with the subject will likely already comprehend much of this book’s content, and those unfamiliar with it (or of uncertain faith) may be alienated by the author’s sweeping frame of reference and uncompromising perspective.

A detailed compendium of facts and ideas that’s not lucid or comprehensive enough to be useful for a wide readership.

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